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A Century of Caste, 

by _, 

Judge A. NrWaterman. 



'The short and simple annals of the poor. 



* 



CHICAGO, 

M. A. DONOHUE & CO. 

407-429 Dearborn St. 



£+*** 

^ 



COPYRIGHTED igOI 
EY 

HON. A. N. WATERMAN. 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 




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mm 








A Century of Caste. 

' -b— 

■ 

With many, life is a melodrama; for some, a 
tragedy ; to most, a disappointment. * 

The greater portion of mankind feel that 
they have been unjustly dealt with, unduly 
vexed and troubled, not properly appreciated or 
rewarded ; that opportunities afforded to others 
have been denied to them. 

To these, this presentation of burdens they 
have never borne, is offered for their considera- 
tion. 

Even the ravages of time proved that the 
neat, trim figure and the clear-cut features be- 
longed to one who in youth had possessed if 
not a handsome, at least an attractive form. 
The expression of intelligence yet remained ; the 
voice was of one accustomed to speak thought- 
fully and the manner such as belongs to those 
who neither fear to offend nor are overanxious 
to please. 

Her speech was like that of persons who, hav- 
ing grown up without attempt at correct utter- 
ance, in later years mingle with educated people 
and themselves receive instruction. At times 
she spoke as if familiar with the language of 



4 A CENTURY OP CASTE. 

scholars, at other as if she were still a field 
hand. 

Seated in a small frame cottage, clad in black, 
wearing a ruffled cap of snowy whiteness, in a 
clear voice she thus began : 

"I remember when I was a little girl hearing 
the white folks talk about Jefferson, Jackson, 
the people and liberty and the rights of man. 
I did not think much about this then, and knew 
very little, but now I know that by the people 
they meant only white folks, and by the rights of 
man, only the rights of white men, and that 
niggers were nobody and hadn't any rights, 
neither to liberty nor anything else. 

"When I was a little girl I was very spry and 
light upon my feet, and I began to carry things 
on my head, and I heard the white folks say, 
'See that gal, ain't she cute?' This pleased me 
and I tried to keep . yself very straight and 
have done so all my life. 

"At the time I was about twelve years old 
my master, Mr. Sam Johnson, went as a soldier, 
to fight with Jackson. He was then past thirty, 
a lively, pleasant man whom everybody liked. 
Before going he came to the negro quarters to 
bid us good-by. Many of the slaves followed 
him a long way down the road, but my mother 
stood in the door of our cabin and watched until 
he went over the hill out of sight. 

"I had never before seen her look so sad, 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 5 

and in the night I heard her crying. My mother 
was a tall woman whom I thought the hand- 
somest person in the world ; I have since seen 
many grand ladies, yet I think of my mother as 
I did when our young master went away. What 
her grief at his departure meant I did not know, 
nor do I now ; yet it may be I have come to 
understand. 

"Some time after this, news came that Master 
Johnson would never come back, that he was 
dead. 

"Then there was great wailing and weeping 
by white folks and black, but my mother did 
not cry and I wondered at it. Standing in the 
door of our cabin I saw her look up at the stars 
and heard her say, 'Nobody knows nothing. 
God don't know, he can't; for if he did he 
would ' 

" Would what ?' I asked. 

' 'Nothing, nothing, go away child. I wasn't 
talking to you,' she answered. 

"Not long afterwards I was married to a 
young colored man called Tom. There wasn't 
much of a wedding or ceremony, but it was 
understood that I took Tom and he took me, 
and we lived together. 

"Tom was a steady young fellow much more 
sober in his ways than most of the young 
negroes, and I don't suppose that I should have 
taken up with him if he had not been picked out 



6 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

for me by our master, Mr. William Johnson, to 
whom the plantation and all the slaves had gone 
upon the death of Master Sam; but my Tom 
was so good and kind and gentle that I came 
to love him, to love him — folks who have so 
many things can never know how much ! he 
was all I had, all ! all ! after my mother died, 
and I loved him, God only knows how well ! 

"We lived together many years, not a very 
hard life ; to be sure we worked hard, but that's 
good for folks, white people as well as niggers ; 
keeps 'em out of mischief. 

"Our food was coarse, but there was plenty 
of it ; as for clothing,. we had all that was needed, 
no more. Sometimes Tom served as a house 
servant, but he was not quick, either to under- 
stand or to do, nor did he understand a joke, 
or how to make fun or be lively ; so for the most 
part He and I were field hands. 

"W r e had no children, and sometimes the 
folks, white and black, used to tell Tom he was 
a no-account nigger 'cause we hadn't ; but I was 
glad ; I had heard enough of mothers being 
sent away from their children and children from 
their parents, and I thought, as things were, 
there were black folks enough in the world. 

"Tom was a praying negro, was called a pious 
nigger; I prayed also and thought I had re- 
ligion, but neither of us were ever known as 
shouters, or exhorters, or having the power, or 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 



being filled with glory. Tom, because he was 
so quiet and dignified, and I, because I did not 
care very much for anything or anybody but 
Tom. I used to think that if all the people in 
the world and all the horses and the cattle were 
swallowed up, I would not care much, if Tom 
was left. 

"We knew very little of what was going on 
outside of the county in which we were. There 
were horse races and elections and camp meet- 
ings, by way of which we heard many things; 
there was much talk about Jackson and his be- 
ing president, and afterwards of hard times and 
banks and failures, but we colored folks thought 
little of these things, and knew less. I only 
remember that they were talked of ; the words 
linger with me as things I heard said, not that 
I understood much what was meant. 

"Then there was another 'lection with much 
shouting and singing of Tippecanoe and Tyler 
too, and we heard that General Harrison, who 
killed Tecumseh, had been 'lected, and we 
thought this was because he had shot a bad 
Injin who had made the white folks heaps of 
trouble. 

"•We colored people knew mighty little; the 
white folks didn't know much, but we niggers 
were powerful ignorant; we heard some talk 
about Texas, but about where Texas was or 
what it was we knew nothing; the most we 



8 A CENTURY OP CASTE. 

thought of was the work we had to do from 
day to day, what we had to eat, the 'casional 
births and deaths in the neighborhood, the 
weather and the crops. Sometimes a nigger 
was whipped or ran away. If a nigger runned 
away there was great 'citement 'mong every- 
body and a big hunt for him. 

"At night when everything was still and 'twas 
all dark, some of us would get together in a 
cabin and talk dreadful low 'bout de way he 
went and what made him go and where he had 
gone or was hiding. An' sometimes, sitting 
there widout any light save such as come from 
the stars through the chinks 'tween the logs, we 
planned to send him something to eat or how 
to put the hunters on a wrong track ; and some- 
times all in de dark we listened while somebody 
under his breath told how de dogs had torn the 
runaway nigger or how he had been killed ; and 
then nobody dared to speak a loud word or to 
stir, not that we were so much afraid as we were 
hushed and awed, and everything seemed 
solemn an' awful an' de dead to be right there, 
an' we kinder thought any minute we might see 
his ghost. 

"Such things were not common and for the 
greater part of the time we led dull, stupid, care- 
less, hopeless lives, just as our owners meant 
we should. There were frolics at Christmas 
which most of the slaves thought very fine. I 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 9 

did not, and Tom never seemed to. Neither of 
us cared to dance nor to join in the sport that 
seemed so funny to many. 

"My Tom ! my Tom ! was a gentleman. I 
have heard tell of General Washington and of 
the Prince of Wales, and I saw Abram Lincoln 
once, but my Tom was as good and grand a 
gentleman as any of them. He had no learn- 
ing, he couldn't read or write, they wouldn't 
let him learn; he never had any clothes save 
what I cut and made out of old cotton stuff, and 
I wa'nt no tailor, and he never had a pair of 
shoes that fit and never no blackin' to put on 
'em, and his hair never was cut by nobody, but 
me with a big pair of shears, and I wa'nt no bar- 
ber, and in all his life he never had no starched 
clothes, and never had any handkerchief, save 
a piece of red or blue cotton I cut out for him, 
but he was the noblest looking and the perlitest 
and grandest gentleman I ever seed. God Al- 
mighty made him a gentleman and nobody 
could do better. 

"In God's own time he who was the least here 
will stand first in His kingdom!" 

It is impossible to describe the fervor with 
which she uttered these words. Trembling be- 
neath the weakness of ninety years, she rose to 
her feet, extending her form to its full height, 
and pointing to the sky, like an inspired 



10 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

prophetess, cried: "Despised of men thou shalt 
reign on high !" 

It was two weeks before this victim of caste 
was able to resume the story of her life. In a 
low monotone she then began : 

"Did I tell you 'bout the Mexican war and 
young Massa Sam's going to college? I guess 
I didn't. 

"After General Harrison there was» lots of 
talk about Tyler and Polk and Texas and Mex- 
ico and the Mexican war and old Zach Taylor. 

"Just as in the time when my mother watched 
Massa Sam Johnson go over the hill on his way 
to fight with Jackson, men began to go to fight 
with Old Zach. This interested and excited the 
colored people as did races, elections and every- 
thing by which the white folks were stirred up, 

"Yet it was a thing that did not concern us 
and in a kinder dull way we knew this, and were 
not excited by it as we were when a black man 
was whipped, or a slave ran away and there 
was hot talk and chase by overseers and masters 
with horses and clogs. Stupid, ignorant and 
'fraid as we were to talk about liberty or run- 
ning away, we knew that the fellow who did run 
was one of us ; and that he had done what we all 
would if we dared. 

"We didn't hate the white folks ; generally we 
were very fond of our master and his family. 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 11 

and 'bout the wrong and right of our being 
slaves few of us thought much and nobody 
talked. 

"We had differences 'mong ourselves, likes 
and dislikes ; no one would have thought it 
•wrong to tell of a nigger who slighted his work ; 
we had our sense of honor and honesty toward 
everybody ; though to have taken a chicken out 
of massa's yard or a melon from his garden 
would have seemed to most of us no theft. I 
don't see now how it was stealing for us to take 
a little from those who robbed us of everything ; 
but, whatever quarrels we had, there was never 
a black man who could have been made to be- 
tray a runaway. The man who run was fight- 
ing with those who held us, and 'spite of love 
for those with whom we had grown up, 'spite of 
'membrances for kindness, 'spite of oaths and 
curses, of whips and guns, we stood by him who, 
running afore bloodhounds and rifles, was one 
of us, a 'damned black nigger,' the white folks 
said, and we knew that's what we all were, when 
a white man got mad at us. 

"My Tom was as kind as anybody could be; 
he hated to kill a chicken and he never would 
go with the boys hunting coons, 'cause he said, 
'God made the coon, and he wanted to live and 
wan't hurting anybody !' 

" 'How,' he used to say, 'how would we like 
to have a lot of men and dogs come to our 



12 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

house in the night and set the dogs on us and 
beat us over the head with clubs till the blood 
ran and we were dead ?' And he was as truthful 
a man as ever lived. 

"They s£y George Washington neber told a 
lie, and perhaps he didn't. My Tom told a lie 
just once, neber no other time ; an' George 
Washington would if he had been in my Tom's 
place, else he'd a bin a mighty mean, hard- 
hearted man. 

"One night when we was in bed, I heard some 
one, stan'in' in de door ob our cabin, say 'Tom, 
Tom/ and Tom he says, 'Who's dat?' and the 
man says, 'It's me, Joe Williams; I want to talk 
to ye.' Then Tom he got up, and Joe told him 
that he was going to run away, to go up 
'Norf,' he said, and he wanted Tom to tell him 
how to go, what way, how he'd know when he 
was going along in de night, 'cause he know'd 
he couldn't go no time but in de night, how he'd 
know when he was going to de Norf. 

"An' Tom he talked to Joe a long time, an' 
told him he'd better go home and not run 
away. 

"Joe belonged to Massa Jack Williams, whose 
plantation jined ours. 

"Tom told him he'd be caught; that they'd 
set the dogs on him and kill him maybe, and if 
dey didn't kill him they'd whip him 'most to 
death, anyway. 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 13 

"Joe said 'twan't no use talkin' to him, he was 
going; that they'd got a. new oberseer at Massa 
Williams' ; ob course we all know'd that ; we 
know'd who was de oberseers on all de planta- 
tions for eber so far all round. 

"Joe said the new oberseer was cross and 
ugly and had been cuffing and kicking him eber 
since he'd been there ; that he cuffed and kicked 
eberbody; that there was no way o' pleasing 
him ; that he might as well run away an' be killed 
as to stay there and be killed by dat oberseer. 
Joe said dat dat bery day de oberseer had 
grabbed him by de neck and kicked him 'most 
to death, 'cause he stubbed his toe and fell 
when he was carrying a basket o' cotton. 

'Tom told him that the Norf was a great way 
off, an' it would take him eber an' eber so long 
to git there if he eber did, an' there wasn't much 
chance he eber would ; but Joe said he'd go if 
he knew he'd be killed, he'd as live die runnin' 
as be killed workin' for dat damned old brute ; 
and then Joe swore awful, an' Tom laid his hand 
on his shoulder very gentle an' said, 'Don't, 
Joe ; that won't do you any good or de oberseer 
any harm, an' it's wicked, 'cause God says you 
musn't, an' I "don't like to hear you, nor does 
Liza.' An' Joe he stopped a minute an' looked 
at Tom an' the tears came in his eyes an' he 
said, T ain't a pious nigger like you is, Tom; 
'taint in me, an' I ax you and Liza to scuse me 



14 A CENTURA OF CASTE. 

for swearing; if you know'd what I've been 
through, you'd forgive me, and if God does, he 
will !' 

'Then Tom he saw it wa'nt no use to talk to 
Joe any more, an' he went out of the cabin 
wid Joe, an' I followed, an' Tom he took hold 
of Joe an' turned him round and pointed up to 
de sky an' to de dipper, an' told Joe how to find 
de Norf star by the two front stars ob de dipper 
an' to keep a going just as if he was a walking 
to de Norf Star an' he'd being a going to de 
Norf. 

'Then Joe he shook hands wid me an' said 
good-bye, and shook hands wid Tom and said 
'good-bye, if ye eber see me agin ye'll see a free 
nigger or a dead nigger, one or tother,' and 
then he looked at Tom an' said, very low and 
gentle, T'.d like to have ye pray for me,' an* he 
didn't ask me to pray for him at all, which 
wasn't queer, 'cause if there ever was a man 
that stood close up to God, that man was Tom. 

"The next day Massa Johnson he met' Tom 
an' he said, 'Tom, hab ye seen Joe Williams 
round here?' An' Tom said, 'No, Massa,' which 
was a lie an' the only one Tom ever told. The 
last time I seen him he looked kinder wild and 
strange an' acted queer, an' I just thought, dat 
nigger's gone out 'er his head,' which was the 
truth, though Massa Johnson didn't zactly un- 
derstand what Tom was talking about. 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 15 

"Thus the years went along and my Tom was 
getting grey; folks began to call him 'Uncle 
Tom.' 

' 'Twas long in the fifties ; I can't tell the year 
zactly ; dere had been a deal of talk 'bout Pierce 
and Buchanan and 'bout abolitionists and Kan- 
sas and Douglas, but I don't remember the 
exact time, 'cause things happened dat drove 
me crazy, and I don't 'member much, but what 
set me wild. 

"My Tom wasn't as strong as he had been; 
he used to have rheumatiz and sometimes he'd 
come home at night wid a dreadful headache 
an' sit down in the corner and I would put cold 
cloths on his head and the back of his neck, 
and my Tom wouldn't say a word only, 'Lord 
bless ye, honey, Lord bless ye, how good ye 
are to me.' 

"It wasn't easy for him to do as much work as 
he used to 'fore he got so old. He was never a 
bit lazy, he loved to work; 'twasn't much he 
had, but he always kept his clothes an' hisself 
as clean and neat as if he had de finest fixins, 
an' he always wanted ebrything 'bout our cabin 
as slick as a parlor ; an' as he and I sat there in 
de ebening he used to take my han' and say, 
'Honey, ain't dis most heaven,' an' he tole me 
many times, T don't want to go widout ye, 
may de good Lord take us together.' 

"Der was a good deal of talk 'bout hard times 



16 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

an' bank failin', and we heard dat Massa Wil- 
liam had lost lots of money racing horses and 
dat it cost a heap ob cash to keep young Massa 
William up Norf at Yale, but we didn't think a 
great deal 'bout all this, 'cause we only kept 
workin' same as we always had and always 
spected to, and had nuff corn bread an' bacon 
to eat, wid melons an' peas an' beans an' sich 
in summer and chickens long in de winter. 

"Of course, we had heerd of children being 
sold away from dere mudders and fathers sent 
Southf an' we thought 'twas awful; but such 
things didn't happen on our plantation and we 
all spected to live and die dere just as we were. 

"I used to be a famous hand for making hoe 
cake. Old Massa William used to say 'dere 
want nobody could make hoe cake like Aunt 
Liza,' and he used to come in an' say, 'Auntie, 
I can't get along widout a hoe cake today, 
can't ye make me one, Auntie?' Ebery little 
while he'd come for a hot hoe cake, an' de little 
white boys dey'd come, too. 

"One day dere was a couple of little white 
boys ober to our cabin talkin' with my Tom an' 
waitin' for de hoe cake when I seed Massa 
William a comin' wid a big man I had neber 
seed before. I didn't think nothin' of this, 
'cause Massa William lots of times had brought 
visitors over to our cabin to get some of my hoe 
cake. 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 17 

"Massa William and dis big man dey come in. 
My Tom he was a sittin' in de corner makin' a 
whistle for one of de boys, an' as soon as Massa 
William seed him he sed: 

" 'Get your hat, Tom, I've sold you to this 
man an' you must go with him !' 

"De little boys looked up and kinder stared ; 
dey didn't seem to know what it meant ; Tom 
and I did, but nobody can eber tell or know how 
we felt. 

"I stood dere sorter dazed and dumb and 
Tom he got up an' stood as if he didn't under- 
stan' or know what to do ; den Tom he stepped 
up to me an' he put his arms 'bout me an' sed, 
'Good-bye, honey,' and he held me hard an' 
hugged me close an' it seemed as if he couldn't 
let go, an' we both 'gan to cry an' de big man 
he took hold of my Tom an' said, 'Come along,' 
an' pulled him away, awfully savage, an' Tom he 
turned an' went out de door 1 wid de big man, an' 
I tried to go arter him, when I 'gan to tremble 
an' couldn't put one foot fore de tudder, an' 
stannin' dere just reached out toward him an' 
cried: 

" 'Oh, my God help me, help me, help me/ 
and eberyting grow'd dark an' I fell on de 
ground, an' ncber seed Tom any more. * * * 

'"They tell me that after Tom went away I 
was ill and crazy for a long time ; I don't recol- 
lect anything about it. 



18 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

"The first thing I remember is that I was 
down by the river ; it was in the spring and 
brush, boards and sticks were floating by. 

"I sat and looked at them, watching as they 
went out of sight until I 'gan to wonder where 
they- were going, and then, all of a sudden, I 
thought they might be going to where my Tom 
was, and I wanted to jump in the river an' go 
with them ; and then I thought if I could get a 
chip and. mark it so Tom would know it, an' 
send it down the river, maybe Tom would see it 
an' know it was from me an' be so glad. 

"And then I thought that Tom might not be 
near the river and might never see it and that 
there want no way I could let him know how 
I loved him an' wanted to see him; an' I 'gan 
to cry, and things grew dark an' I lay there an' 
didn't know nothing for I can't tell how long; 
'cause when I come to, the stars was shining, 
an' I got up more sad than anybody but God 
can know, and walked back to Massa's kitchen ; 
'cause now I lived at de white folks' house an' 
worked 'bout the place helping to cook an' take 
care of de folks. 

"You see, when I was sick an' crazy all the 
folks, white and black, felt sorry for me, an' so 
when I 'gan to git better, as I wasn't very 
strong, they took me to Massa's house, 'cause 
dey said de work was light dere. 

"Now I never have 'membered about my be- 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 19 

ing sick after Tom went away, but after watch- 
ing the river and the sticks floating by, I 'gan 
to think so much 'bout sending word to Tom 
an' hearing from him — and oh! de longing for 
just a word from him 

"I knowed dat dey heard from young Massa 
William an' writ to him; I heard a good deal 
of talk 'bout what he was doing an' sometimes 
I heard letters from him read an' I knowed how 
glad de white folks was when dey got a letter 
from him an' how they kept talking 'bout Massa 
William an' Yale for days an' days afterwards; 
but I didn't know where Yale was or how de let- 
ters got dere ; an' whether de river ran dere was 
more than I could tell. I rather thought ifr did, 
'cause Massa William when he went away went 
down de river road. 

"About this time there was a young woman 
came from de Norf to teach school. The place 
where dey had de school was in a little cabin 
close to Massa Johnson's house, an' de little 
white children from de plantations all round 
corned dere to school. 

"The little children liked me an' dey used to 
talk to me 'bout de school an' what dey learned 
dere ; dey was kinder proud of what dey knowed 
an' used to read to me out of little books an' 
write wid pencils just to show what dey could 
do. 

"Now I watched mighty close an' looked at 



20 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

all de books an' at eberything de children writ 
an' asked all de questions I dared ; an' as no- 
body want watching me, dey was a good many. 

"I remember dere was a little book wid a 
picture of a cat with a mouse in its mouth. I 
knowed what that was as quick as I seed it ; 
well, right under it was printing, which one of 
de little boys read to me, an' it was, 'The cat has 
caught a mouse'^ an' so de little children read 
and wrote for me many things, an' in 'bout a 
year I knowed most all the letters an' could 
spell some words, an' read an 5 write a little. 

"Now all this time I had been trying to learn, 
'cause I wanted to send a- letter to my Tom, 
an' praps hear from him ; but when I got so 1 
could write a few words I 'gan to think how I 
was going to get a letter to him if I writ one. 
I didn't know where he was an' nobody did 
so far as I knew. All I knowed was that there 
was writ on the letters that I saw, 

'Mr. William Johnson, 

'New Haven, 

'Conn.' 
an' bime by there corned a letter from him, say- 
ing he had got a letter from home, an' tellin' 
how he was an' what he was doing an' sendin' 
love, an' lots of other things. 

"I didn't know what 'New Haven, Conn.,' 
meant, only that 'twas on a letter they sent to 
him ; I always heerd them speak of him as be- 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 21 

ing at Yale or up Norf, an' I thought my Tom 
couldn't be dere, 'cause I heerd he was sold 
South, an' 'cause if he had been where young 
Massa William was he would a writ about 
seein' him, 'cause he knowed my Tom well ; an' 
by and by I 'gan to understand that all my 
learning to write want of no use, 'cause I 
couldn't get a letter to my Tom nohow and that 
I should never hear from him agin and he 
would never hear from me, an' I should never 
know how he was or where, an' could never 
send him any word. 

"You folks dat has so many things an' hears 
so often from your folks, your husbands and 
your children when dey go away, can neber 
know how I felt when it came to me dat all 
learnin' to write want of no use ; dat all I had 
done was for nothin' at all, 'cause I should 
neber know where Tom was an' he would neber 
know I had writ to him if I did, an' dat neither 
of us could ever send a word to or hear from 
the other; then I felt dreadful wicked an' I 
wanted to curse God an' die; but I didn't, 'cause 
I thought Tom wouldn't ; he don't curse, I said, 
he loves the Lord an' so must I." 

Having said this, the old lady clasped her 
hands about her knees and, rocking violently 
forward and backward, sobbed as if the sorrow 
of many years ago had just come to her. 



22 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

After a few moments, in a tone tender and 
trembling, she sang, 

"Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. 
Uobody knows but Jesus." 

JjC >fc ^ * * >fc * 

"After this I wasn't of much use, round the 
house or anywhere. 

"Some days I didn't seem \ o remember any- 
thing or know what I was doing, but I kept 
learning more and more how to read and write 
until Massa Johnson and all the folks found 
out. 

"They was surprised, of course, an' they 
wanted to know how I had learned, and when I 
told 'em 'twas the little boys and girls, tbey 
just held up their hands and was so 'stonished ; 
first they looked kinder serious, 'cause 'twas 
'ginst the law to teach a nigger how to read, an' 
then they laughed ; then they talked to the lit- 
tle folks 'bout it an' they didn't seem to know 
that they had ever been teaching me ; an' then 
I told 'em how 'twas done and the children 
laughed an' said yes; an' all the folks laughed 
an' said, 'Well, I never.' 

"There was a good deal of talk 'bout my 
learning to read an' write, and the old folks 
used to have me read just to show what I could 
do, 'twas so curus, they said. 

"Nobody 'seemed to think there was any 
special harm in it, 'cause I was so old an' sober. 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 23 

"Thus things ran along until one day a Mr. 
Brown, who was a congressman, came along on 
a stumping tour and stopped with Massa John- 
son. 

"Mr. Brown brought his little boy, about six 
years old; with him and left him there while he 
went round that part of his district making 
speeches and seeing the voters. I took a liking 
to the little fellow an' he did to me, so much 
so that when Mr. Brown came back, to please 
his son, he bought me from Massa Johnson and 
I went to the home of my new master. 

"My new owner, Massa Brown, was re- 
elected to Congress and I went with his family 
to, Washington. Mr. Brown was an educated 
man, a graduate; his wife had been reared in 
the North. 

"They took great pains with the education 
and training of their children, especially as to 
their speech, so that their pronunciation and 
use of language should be correct and not such 
as most of the people round about made use of. 
I soon saw that they were pleased if I spoke 
as the children were taught, and I tried to learn 
and make use of the words and the way Mr. 
and Mrs. Brown and the children's teacher 
spoke. 

"Of course, in going to and in Washington 
I saw many things I had never even thought of 
before, and I should have been greatly excited 



24 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

and delighted by the big buildings and all the 
fine sights if it had not been that I was too old, 
and since I lost my Tom nothing ever seemed 
to excite me much or please me a great deal. 
I felt sad all the time, only sometimes more 
than others. 

"Still I couldn't help hearing in Washington 
a deal of talking 'bout things I had never 
thought about before, slaves an' niggers an' 
rights an' laws and so forth. 

"I found that there was lots of white folks 
who said dere hadn't oughter to be any slaves 
an' that black folks ought to be free same as 
white ones an' ought to go to school an' learn 
an' be 'spectable same as if dey was white ; but 
this didn't stir me much — nothing did since my 
Tom was taken away. I knew that was wrong, 
wicked, cruel, an' I didn't think much about 
other things, whether they was right or wrong — 
maybe 'twas 'cause I loved him so an' was so 
selfish. 

"I knew most everybody grumbled — Tom 
never did — an' thought they was abused ; rich 
folks as well as poor ; an' all the talk about free- 
dom and slavery and what was going to happen 
if something or other warn't done didn't 'cite 
me much or even set me to thinking a great 
deal ; till one day I read in a paper — all sorts of 
papers came to Mr. Brown's house and lay 
around where anybody could see them — a 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 25 

speech somebody had made in Congress about 
slavery and colored folks ; and this speech went 
on to tell about the laws forbidding the teach- 
ing of black people to read and write, anH how 
they was kept from learning anything and then 
despised 'cause they was ignorant and didn't 
know anything and couldn't and didn't get along 
and get rich and 'spectable, even if dey was 
free, an' so folks said they was only fit for 
slaves an' never ought to be anything else. 

"An' the man who made the speech said such 
laws was wrong an' wicked an' an insult to God 
and that He would send a great judgment on de 
land for its iniquity toward de black man. 

"That speech made me think a great deal ; it 
put that into my head which has never gotten 
out an' never will, neither in this life nor in 
that which is to come. 

"It was a long time afore I heard anything 
that stirred me like the reading of that speech 
did, although I read a good many things after 
that and went with Mr. Brown an' his family 
to lots of places. 

"Once we went to New Haven, Connecticut. 
Mr. Brown's son was going to graduate; he 
was a mighty smart young man and Mr. Brown 
was very proud of him. I had learned a good 
deal since the time when I thought all letters 
had writ on 'em 'New Haven, Conn.,' so that 
they would get to the folks they was meant for. 



2C A CENTURY OF CASTE, 

I knowed now that there was lots of places in 
the world 'sides 'New Haven,' that there was 
great oceans and lots of land dat stended eber 
so far and big cities and big houses an' ships 
and things that I never dreampt of when I had 
my Tom, an' yet wid all my readin' an' all I had 
seen, my Tom was more to me than ebery thing 
else an' I would rather had him back an' been 
livin' on de old plantation at Massa Johnson's 
dan had all de fine houses an' seen all de fine 
things and knowed all I did 'bout de world an' 
how to read an' write an' spell an' be perlite an' 
talk as if I wasn't brought up 'mong niggers. 
And sometimes I used to think it was wicked 
for me to talk differently from what I did when 
I had my Tom an' to see an' know so much 
that he never heerd of. I knew I couldn't be 
any better than he was — I had heerd white folks 
at Mr. Brown's talk of growing away from folks 
an' of husband an' wife growing away from 
each other. I knowed what they meant an' I 
didn't want to grow away from my Tom. 

"Whatever he was whenever I came to him 
on earth or in hebben I wanted to be just as I 
was when we were together and he loved me so. 
I 'spose it's dreadful wicked — I've heerd great 
ministers say that we ought to love God more 
than anything else, but I never saw the time 
when I could or did love God half so well as I 
have loved my Tom for more than fifty years — 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 27 

an' perhaps God will forgive it in a poor old 
black woman like me that never had anything 
else to love— perhaps He'll fling de book in 
which my sin for loving Tom more than Him 
is writ down into hell and let it be burned up 
dere instead of an old nigger like I is. 

"We went to New Haven ; it's a pretty place, 
not very big but with lots of great elm trees; 
an' I walked round with the children an' saw 
the nicely dressed young men an' the pretty 
girls, an' heerd so much 'bout the big folks that 
was dere, dat I should have jist stood an' stared 
at 'em wid my mouth wide open if it had not 
been for thinkin' of my Tom. Somehow 'cause 
of de days when I was wondering if a letter 
from me marked — 

Tom Johnson, New Haven, Conn.'— 
wouldn't go to him ; it seemed all de while as if 
he must be there an' I wouldn't have thought 
it strange if I had seen him coming in dc clouds 
of heaven ; or if I could have gotten away from 
eberybody if he had walked right up to me an' 
said 'Liza,' just as soft an' sweet as he used to 
say it when we were together. Somehow never 
since he went away have I thought of seeing 
him again, save when nobody else was by, only 
he and I an' God, for it has seemed to me all 
these years that the spot on which we should 
meet would be holy ground. 

"Of course, when we was going to Yale an' 



28 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

when we were there I heard ever so much said 
about the blessings of education an' how* the 
foundations of the state were built upon the 
intelligence of the people an' that the school 
house was the cornerstone of our civil govern- 
ment ; an' how libral everybody should be in 
the support of learning — I remember the very 
words they used to speak. 

"And I wondered if any of the great orators 
and the learned professors and the great presi- 
dent had ever thought or preached anything 
about the law which said that if any person 
should teach a negro to read or write he should 
be sent to prison or whipped on the bare back ; 
an' if they hadn't, why it was, if education was 
such a grand thing. 

"When Congress was in session we lived in 
Washington and when it was not we were most 
of the time on Mr. Brown's plantation ; but 
wherever we were, I kept hearing more and 
more talk about slavery and niggers and aboli- 
tionists and the Norf and the South. Still I 
didn't think anything serus was going to come 
of it, or that the slaves were to be made free 
or things changed much. I had got over hop- 
ing or looking for anything, the great, the only 
thing I cared for I knew would never be. 

"Then I heard that Douglas and Brecken- 
ridge and Bell and Lincoln were all running for 
president, and that it was likely that Lincoln 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 29 

would be elected, 'cause all the Norf was for 
him ; and that if he was the South would secede. 
"This did not move me much ; I felt no special 
interest in the election of anybody save Mr. 
Brown, 'cause I liked to live in Washington 
and his folks did. 

"November came and they said Abe Lincoln 
had been elected an' that the South would se- 
cede. 

"Always before, after election, things quieted 
down ; but now people 'gan to talk more an' to 
act fiercer than they had afore the voting came 
off. 

"Mr. Brown was opposed to seceding. He 
thought that the Republicans couldn't do much, 
anyway, an' that if the Democrats would have 
some sense an' calm down, that by the time the 
next 'lection come round the country would be 
sick of the Republicans and the Democrats 
would 'lect their man. 

"I didn't think so then, 'cause I never 
thought about it at all; but I think now that 
though Mr. Brown had lots of slaves an' always 
stood up for slavery an' swore at the abolition- 
ists and at Abe Lincoln an' the Norf, he 
wouldn't have cared at all if the slaves had all 
been set free. 

"I remember now that he never said anything 
'gainst Lincoln or the Norf or the black Repub- 
licans, 'cept when there were other folks doing 



30 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

it, or he was making speeches or talking to the 
voters ; and I remember that when a little 
while afore Christmas he read that South 
Carolina had seceded, he said that there was a 
lot of fools there that hadn't any sense. 

"We went to Washington as usual, but most 
all the talk that I heard between Mr. and Mrs. 
Brown was about this and that state seceding 
and members of Congress going away from 
Washington or what might come. 

"After a time our state seceded and we all 
'gan to get ready to leave Washington. Air. 
Brown was very sober an' Mrs. Brown cried s 
'cause she liked to live in Washington, and both 
she and Mr. Brown felt mighty serus 'bout 
what was going to happen, which nobody could 
tell. 

"Mr. Brown was elected to the Confederate 
Congress an' w r e went to Richmond. 

"Richmond was neither so fine nor so large 
a place as Washington, but it was crowded with 
people who had come there on account of the 
war. Soldiers were everywhere and nobody 
talked about anything save the war an' the Norf 
and the Yankees. Everybody knew we was 
going to whip 'em an' I thought so, too. 

"It was the thing just then for everybody to 
go out in de afternoon an' see de dress parade 
of a rigiment from South Carolina, ebery man 
in which was said to be a born gentleman an* 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 31 

to have his colored servant with him to look 
after his clothes an' things. 

"It was a mighty fine rigiment, I tell ye, an' 
dey looked grand stan'in' in a long line wid 
dere officers in front and a band a marchin' 
afore 'em ; an' everybody said de Yankees 
would have to git when dey met dem ; an' yet 
it seemed kinder queer den an' does now dat 
when de war was all about niggers an' settin' 
'em free, that so many colored men should be 
taken along to take care of those who was 
fighting to keep the colored folks from ever 
learning anything and to have to stay slaves 
to be bought and sold for evermore. We didn't 
have so large nor so fine a house as in Wash- 
ington and everything cost a good deal more. 
The girls had to give up getting new ribbons 
an' fixins and Mrs. Brown had to wear her old 
clothes jest as if she wasn't the wife of a rich 
congressman. 

"Sometimes everybody was excited over a 
great victory and sometimes everybody felt 
gloomy and sad. As for clothes and meat and 
fine things, it kept getting harder and harder 
for de white folks ; but everybody had enough 
to eat and we colored folks lived on corn meal 
an' potatoes an' bacon an' sich, about as we 
always had. 

"Lots of black men worked building forts 
and digging ditches and making all sorts of 



32 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

things to keep the Yankees out of Richmond. 
The furts were mostly way out of sight and I 
should never have seen any of them if Massa 
Brown hadn't for a couple of summers gone 
out of the city to live. 

"By the time the war had been going on a 
year or two there want any niggers so stupid 
that they didn't understand that the war was 
all about them an' that if the Yankees whipped, 
the colored folks would all be free, which was 
what we all wanted, without thinking much 
about how things would be then — just, I sup- 
pose, as everybody always wants to be what 
they ain't. 

"There were lots of Yankee prisoners in 
Richmond, men and officers ; we sometimes 
saw them being taken through the streets to 
Libbey prison. 

"One night when we were living in the 
country, late in the evening a tall, slim young 
fellow came quietly into the negro quarters 
where I and some other colored folks were sit- 
ting. 

"We knew he was a Union soldier as soon 
as we saw him, and wanted help. He was pale 
from being so long shut up and he was hungry 
and cold from lying on de ground in the woods 
all day till it was dark enough fcr him to crawl 
up to us widout being seen. 

"He was so weak he could hardly stand an' 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 33 

so faint that I was afraid he was going to die 
right there. We warmed him the best we could 
widout making fire enough to show, an' we 
gave him corn bread an' bacon to eat an' 
rubbed him all over an' got him to feeling 
comfortable an' den one of the men went wid 
him to show him where to go so as to get away 
an' not be caught by de rebels. 

"I don't know whether he got through the 
lines an' to de Norf or not nor who he was, 
but de man who went wid him said dat when 
he left him de man said his name was Earl 
an' dat his home was in Illinois, and dat if any 
of us who had been so good to him was eber 
in Lake County, an' told de folks dere what 
we had done for him de folks dere Would take 
care of us long as we lived for what we had 
done for him, whedder he was alive or dead. 

"I remember the name 'cause I had heard 
the white folks talk about Earls, an' how grand 
an' rich they were and were noblemen ; an' 
though I knew he wasn't one of those they 
meant, I thought there couldn't be any nobler 
men than those who left their nice homes in 
de Norf to come down South an' suffer an' 
fight to free a lot of poor niggers whom they 
had nebber seen. 

"Times got to be very hard in Richmond. 
Everything cost so much that even rich people 



34 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

found it hard to get good things to eat and to 
wear. 

"Bacon cost three (dollars a pound. Eggs 
two dollars a dozen, potatoes eight dollars a 
bushel, coffee ten dollars a pound, molasses 
fifteen dollars a gallon, butter five dollars a 
pound, an' Mrs. Brown thought herself lucky 
'cause she found a pair of shoes for one of the 
girls that she bought for fifty dollars. 

"We kept hearing of how the Yankees had 
taken this place an' that, 'spite of lots of vic- 
tories by the South. 

"I remember how gloomy everybody was 
when Vicksburgh was taken an' we heard that 
Lee had fallen back and that Port Hudson had 
surrendered. Nobo'dy could smile and every- 
one expected that something awful would hap- 
pen. 

"One day I saw a bat flying over de capitol ; 
some white men saw it, too, an' tHey looked 
very solemn an' one of them said : There were 
signs in Rome when Caesar fell.' I did not 
know what he meant and don't now, but I tell 
ye they was mighty solemn and serus. 

"After the fall of Vicksburgh things seemed 
to be going 'gainst the South most all of the 
time; prices of meat and meal were going up 
and it took a heap of Confederate money to 
get a ton of coal or a cord of wood. 

"Den we heard talk 'bout making soldiers 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 35 

out of niggers ; settin' dem to fight de Norf. 

"We colored folks couldn't help smiling 
when we heard of this. It seemed so funny to 
set us to fighting so that the Yankees shouldn't 
set us free. But we were so accustomed to do- 
ing just as we was told, and de colored men had 
been building forts to keep the Yankees off an' 
raising corn to feed the rebel soldiers so long 
that most anything seemed possible for us to 
do to help out those that owned us body and 
soul. 

"I heard a good deal of talk 'bout how the 
people of the South were suffering everywhere 
on account of the war. I remember hearing 
Mrs. Brown and the girls talk about the good 
times they used to have and what nice things 
to eat and clothes to wear they had and how 
they wished the war was over. And when the 
young Mr. Brown, what went to Yale, was 
killed in battle, I thought Mrs. Brown would 
go crazy ; and then I remembered how I felt 
when my Tom was taken from me, and I was 
sorry for her, though there's a heap of differ- 
ence between having yer son killed fighting for 
a cause you is all bound up in and seeing your 
husband dragged off forever, to work and be 
beat an' cuffed an' kicked an' swore at, just 
'cause he is a nigger an' you is a nigger woman, 
that's got nothing in the world but her Tom. 

"Things kept getting worse and worse for 



36 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

the South and harder and harder for the folks 
that lived in Richmond. 

"There was no hope 'cept in something ex- 
traordinary, something that nobody could cal- 
culate on. 

"So lots of people that generally is pretty 
sensible 'gan to listen to and kinder believe in 
dreams and visions and wild things that cranks 
knew was coming, sure. 

"Sometimes we saw rockets ; we knew they 
were signals from one army or the other, an' 
sitting in our cabins we colored folks wondered 
what they meant an'. what was going to happen. 

" 'Casionally we saw shooting stars an' we 
'gan to think there was more than usual, an' 
maybe there was; so some of the colored 
preachers 'gan to talk 'bout signs an' wonders 
an' de coming of de Lord an' de rolling of de 
clouds of heaven together like a great scroll an' 
de burning of de world an' de great judgment 
an' armies of angels an' de sounding ob de great 
trumpet an' lots of other things. 

"Everything had been going on so strange 
for four years; dere had been so much talk 
'bout armies an' fighting an' de dead an' de 
dying, so much hunger an' suffering; we had 
heard the cannon so often and been so ready to 
see the city captured an' to flee so many times ; 
there had been so many rumors and so much 
wild talk dat pretty nearly everybody's reason 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 37 

was sorter upset and with all my troubles I 'gan 
to look for de day of judgment myself. 

"One hazy night we saw a red light way up 
in the sky; white and black folks saw and 
talked about it, wondering what it were. 

"Next day Mr. Brown said it was a balloon 
signal sent up by troops watching General 
Sheridan, but I kept thinking of the red horse 
told of in Revelations. 

"The time came when nobody seemed to 
know what was going on or to happen. Ebery- 
thing was mysterious and dere was fear and 
dread just as dere is when you walk in a grave- 
yard in de dark. 

"We heard dat 'Wilmington had been cap- 
tured, dat Charlestown had fallen and Colum- 
bia burned. Folks said Sherman wid a big 
army from de West was marching up from 
Georgia and leaving a line of burning houses 
behind him. Some said they was afraid noth- 
ing could stop him, dat dese Western soldiers 
fought like de debil and dat all de niggers in 
Carolina was a following 'long after them. 

"Others said dat de Emperor Napolyun was 
a going to send a big army to help de South ; 
an' that General Lee was a lying low till he got 
Grant in de right place and den he was going 
to break through his lines an' drive him into 
de sea. 

"Ebry day dar was a new story 'bout what 



38 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

was going to happen and most ebery day dere 
was talk 'bout how the Yankees were a coming 
an' how scarce corn an' meat was a gitten. 

"We knew dat mighty well, 'cause Massa 
Brown was very glad when he managed to. git 
a bone of beef from de commissary at de gov- 
ernment price. 

"Den we heard dat there had been a lot o' 
fighting round Petersburgh and soldiers 'gan 
to march through de city and den back agin 
as if nobody knew where dey were wanted. 

"De white folks was as mistified as de colored 
'bout the ways things was going, and wid every- 
body it was jist a waiting an' waiting for some- 
thing to happen dat nobody could do nothing 
to keep off or hurry on. 

"Ob one thing we was all sure, dere was a 
going to be a big clearing up one way or tudder 
mighty soon, and who'd be alive and what 
would be left when 'twas done nobody knowed. 

"Dere had been lots of talk 'bout Richmond 
being abandoned and everybody's going away 
and lebin' it to the Yankees; but we had been 
dere so long and dere had been so many scares 
dat come to nothing dat I didn't think much 
about it, till one Sunday I saw a lot of wagons 
hauling tobacco an' corn an' bacon to de Dan- 
ville railroad depot, an' den I see dat men were 
a working at all de government offices, an' 
pretty soon eberybody 'gan to get excited and 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 39 

to talk dat de Yankees would be in town by de 
next morning and dat de president and all de 
cabinet an' all de big officers was a going to get 
away as quick as dey could. 

"Lord! Lord! but 'twas a busy day. De 
white folks all looked anxious and worried, and 
as if dey had lost eberything. Dey was hurry- 
ing wid all dere might gitten a few ob dere 
things inter trunks an' boxes and gitten dem 
to de depot. Wagons was a running to an' 
fro, ebery driver was a lashing his team an' a 
drivin' as fast as he could; tings was scattered 
about, de dust was a flying an' ebery man an' 
woman a workin' as hard as they could jump ; 
an' all de while de sun was a shining an' 'twas 
as lubly a spring day as ye eber see. 

"Yet though 'twas Sunday, de banks was all 
open in de afternoon an' eberybody was a git- 
tin' dere money so as to carry it off where de 
Yankees couldn t git it. 

"When de sun went down an' it grew dark, 
everybody was in de street, 'cept those dat 
had gone off on de railroad. Nobody went to 
bed dat night. Everybody was up an' a waitin' 
as tho' for de crack of doom. 

"Afore twelve o'clock a lot ob de best people 
dere was went to all de saloons dey knowed of 
and stove in de heads of all de barrels of liquor, 
an' broke all de bottles so dat nobody could git 
drunk; but some rebel sojers wanderin' along 



40 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

got hold of some liquor, what de g^od folks 
hadn't found, and dey got drunk an' 'gan to 
break into houses an' stores an' to rob every- 
body, an' den 'twas as if all de debils dere is 
had got loose. 

"Dere was screaming an' fighting an' running 
to save an' to steal dis an' dat, folk in a hurry 
to keep what belonged to dem an' folks in a 
hurry to rob 'fore anyone else got a chance. 

"As for me, I just stood and looked on, I 
was dat dazed and stupid I didn't know what 
to do. When I saw de white folks all so scared 
and worried an' fightin' to keep what things 
they had, I thought of de poor niggers I had 
known running to keep from being torn to 
pieces by dogs an' men, an' ob black men I had 
seen whipped till de blood ran down dere backs 
in streams, ob children sold away from dere 
crying mothers, ob all de fear, de dread, de 
awful suffrin' dat had come afore me, of my 
own, my lost Tom — and yet God knows dere 
was then in my heart no hatred toward any- 
body I only stood and waited to see de 

end ob all things ; de coming ob de Lord, de 
sounding ob de great trump, the falling ob the 
stars, de wakin' an' risin' ob de dead and de 
purifying ob de world wid fire. Dus waitin', 
waitin', all in a maze, I felt de earth shake, saw 
de sky all ob flame an' flying brans, heard three 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 41 

deep roars, as if ten thousand cannon had been 
fired at once. 

"Den for a minit eberybody stopped runnin' 
and fightin' an' stood still wonderin' what 'twas 
had happened. Den some one said dey had 
blown up de rams, de warships, an' great clouds 
of smoke 'gan to come up from de valley, an' 
pretty soon de whole sky was lighted up wid 
de fires dat come from de great warehouses 
down by de river, an' de fire kept runnin' to- 
ward de markets and stores dat lay 'tween de 
hill on which lots of us was stannin', an' de 
buildings 'long de rubber, where de fire 'gan. 

"No one tried to stop de fire. Eberybody 
runned away from it. White folks came bring- 
ing trunks an' bundles to de hill ; dey looked 
tired and sad as they watched de few things dey 
had saved ; all they had dat was then dere own. 
Dere faces was all covered wid dirt an' dere 
close was torn an' dey looked as if dey was 
de poorest ob white trash an' would be glad ob 
help from anybody. De whole ob de night de 
fire kept a comin' on an' de people kept a run- 
ning away from it an' tryin' to find a place 
where dey could put down de things dey was 
a carrying an' rest. 

******* 

"De sun must hab risen, but nobody saw it 
come up, for the air was so black an' hot wid 
smoke dat we only knowed de day had come 



42 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

'cause dere was its light as well as dat ob de 

fire. 

* # * * * * * 

"Stunned an' awed as I was, deaf and nearly 
blind to what was close to me, all ob a sudden 
I heard people shouting as if dey were happy 
an' glad and not angry or 'fraid. 

"I wondered, for all dat dreadful night no- 
body, white or black, had seemed glad or as if 
dey could eber be happy again. Folks had 
worked an' run an' fought an' screamed an' 
swore an' stole, an' hunted for places to hide 
dere tings in an 1 tried to git away from de fire 
an' de smoke an' de thieves an' de drunken 
men, an' eberybody seemed to hab lost all dere 
frcns an' to be all alone trying to git away an' 
keep what dey had; little children had lost dere 
mudders an' got tired out crying an' trying to 
find dem, an' crawled into alleys an' corners an' 
laid down an' went to sleep, an' mudders callin' 
an' callin' an' runnin' an' runnin' seemed to 
gib up all hope ob eber seeing dere children 
again an' were just wild wid 'citement an' fear 
and weariness dat was more dan dey could 
bear, an' men didn't know what to do nor where 
to go wid de great bundles dey carried, an' de 
multitude ob folks what asked dem so many 
questions 'bout where folks was an' what dey 
should do. 

"So when I heard de shoutin' ob folks dat 



. A CENTURY OF CASTE. 43 

seemed to be glad, 'twas as if somebody had 
dropped in dere from de sky; tho' it didn't 
sound like angels — which I always thot must 
speak very low an' soft. Ob course I listened 
and de shouts grew louder an' was a comin' 
nearer an' nearer, an' I saw lots an' lots ob 
colored folks runnin' an' screaming, an' swing- 
ing dere hats an' aprons an' anything dey could 
get hold ob ; an' right in de middle ob de street 
wid nobody to stop 'em or trying to, eber so 
many black men, colored sogers, niggers, all 
dressed in blue close trimmed all ober wid yel- 
low ribbons, ridin' on horses an' carrying 
swords, an' I heard de trumpets blow an' saw 
de Union flag, de one I had known when I was 
young an' de one I had last seen when four 
years afore I looked up to de capitol when 
Massa Brown went away from Washington. 
An' now when I saw de colored sogers ridin' 
and de old flag a flying dere in Richmond I 
knowed dat all de colored folks was free, dat 
slavery was gone, an' men would be sold away 

from their wives no more. 

******* 

"When 'twas all over ; when Lee and Johnson 
had surrendered and the white folks who fled 
from Richmond had come back, I 'gan to think 
what I would do now that I was free. 

"I had become a good cook and knew that 
I could find work almost anywhere, but I made 



44 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

up my mind to go back with Massa Brown to 
his plantation in the South. 

"Massa Brown and Mrs. Brown and the 
young ladies said this was the right thing to do 
and that it showed I was a very sensible per- 
son. I remember that they said 'person' in- 
stead of 'nigger/ 

"The real reason why I went, was not 'cause 
I knew I could have a good home there and 
would be well treated by them, but 'cause in 
going to the South I would be nearer where 
Tom had lived, where I had last seen him and 
where I would be more likely to hear about 
him, if living, where, and if dead, in what spot 
he lay and what had been his fate since we 
parted. 

"I told Massa Brown that I wanted to go 
first to Massa Johnson's plantation, to see if I 
could learn anything about Tom, an' so I did. 

"As I came near de old house where I was 
born things looked quite different from what 
they did when I lived there. 

"The hills were the same, but many of the 
trees were gone and the fences for miles round 
had been burned. 

"Sogers had camped there and had used 
whatever came handy to make a fire wid ; there 
were long trenches they had dug and forts they 
had built. 

"Everything was so different dat it made me 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. . 45 

sad, 'cause it seemed as if Tom wouldn't know 
it if he came back — I coudn't find the cabin in 
which we lived, and when I couldn't I almost 
fell down right dere, 'cause I 'gan to doubt if I 
would find Tom even in the other world, since 
eberything that he and I used to know and see 
was so changed. 

"Old Massa Sam Johnson was dead and all 
the boys, and the girls, they had gone away ; de 
colored folks I used to know, dey was all gone, 
too. You see, when de war was ober and de 
colored folks was all free dey didn't know what 
to do. Dey was just like anybody what has 
been shut up for a long time, dey wanted to 
git out and see tings ; dey wanted to go to de 
cities and to roam about wid nobody to tell 'em 
to go home or to go to work or stay in or shut 
up, an' so dey acted foolish just like anybody 
what's neber had any bringing up or any in- 
struction would ; and I guess if de colored 
folks hadn't acted foolish when dey got dere 
liberty, just had dat and nothing else in de 
world, dey wouldn't a been human beings, dey 
wouldn't. 

"I couldn't find anything about Tom, nor 
hear who it was dat took him away nor where 
he went to ; so I went to Massa Brown's planta- 
tion. 

"Massa Brown's colored folks when dey 
found out dey was free, dey went to town like 



46 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

all de other foolish niggers ; but Massa Brown 
he had some sense and arter a few days he 
went to town where dey was, an' he talked to 
dem an' told dem dey had better come back and 
work for him an' he'd pay 'em wages, an' de 
best of 'em did. 

"So things went on pretty smoothly on 
Massa Brown's place. 

"God forgive me that for years I drifted away 
from my race and color. 

"I was born a slave, made free by the fate 
of war, redeemed by the blood and suffering of 
millions of white men. I belong to a despised 
and downtrodden race and glory in it, for my 
people have never oppressed anybody — it is 

better to suffer than to do wrong 

"After my journey to our old home I came 
to think that I should never see Tom in this 
life; that he was dead and waiting for me to 
go to him. 

"Living as a house servant with Massa 
Brown, in the quiet even course of our lives I 
thought only of what was around me each day, 
and, forgetting my people, I wonder God did 
not forget me. 

"De black folks was dredful foolish! I 
think now 'twas a mistake making all de men, 
what hadn't any education, voters — poor ignor- 
ant souls dat most of dere lives hadn't been 
'lowed to guburn demselves, how should dey 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 47 

know anything 'bout guburning other folks. 

"Dey did lots of things they ought not to 
have done, but dat want any 'scuse for shooting 
'em down and whippin' dem like dogs, just 
'cause dey was trying to vote as de law said 
dey might. 

"De white folks got control as of course dey 
would ; dey elected all de officers and dere want 
anybody what had any authority but white men ; 
and yet dey want satisfied, dey wanted it so dat 
a nigger hadn' any rights ; dat he could have 
only what was given to him ; frowed at him 
same as you'd frow a bone to a dog. 

"Massa Brown died, an' when he did I lost a 
good friend. 

"He neber spoke a cross word to me in all 
his life, an' after my Tom, he was the most 
gentlemanly man I eber knew. 

"His death broke up de family, de plantation 
had to be sold and I had to find another home. 

"The folks all round knew that I was a good 
cook an' fond of children an' could read an' 
write an' dere want any trouble 'bout my get- 
ting a place, for I was still strong an' had had 
good health all my life ; but at Mr. Little's, my 
new home, the white folks didn't care for or 
talk or sociate wid me as dey had at Massa 
Brown's, so I began to be more wid de colored 
folks dan I had been in a good many years. 

"Dere was a family named Morris that I got 



48 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

acquainted with and liked very much. 

"Mr. Morris was a steady, hard-working 
man who had a little land that he had paid for 
and was trying to bring up and educate his chil- 
dren as children ought to be. 

"Mrs. Morris was a mild, gentle woman, ex- 
tremely fond of her husband and children, 
'specially her oldest boy, Harry, who was as 
likely a lad as I eber knew. 

"Harry was full of life and fun, he had a good 
voice and sang well. 

"While there was mischief in him, there was 
nothing mean, low or unkind about him. 

"Mr. Morris was a church-going man and de 
colored preachers when dey came his way 
usually stopped with him, 'cause dere want no 
better place 'mong de colored people and dey 
was always well taken care of dere. 

"I guess Harry didn't like colored preachers 
coming dere so much ; at any rate, one day 
Elder Blowser he drove into Mr. Morris' yard 
a little after sundown in de summer an' just 
as Harry, who had been working hard all day 
in de field, came up. 

"Elder Blowser he got out of his carriage and 
sorter of frowed de lines toward Harry an' 
said, 'Here, boy, put up my team.' Harry was 
den about fourteen years old an' didn't like 
very well having to take care of de preacher's 



A CENTURY OP CASTE. 49 

hoss, when he was all tired out wid working in 
de field. 

"So when de Elder went into de house, 
Harry he unharnessed de hoss an' put him in 
de shed an' gib him some corn an' hay an' 
water. By de time he had done this it was 
gittin' dark, so Harry he took de wheels orT de 
preacher's wagon an' hung 'em up in de trees 
in de back end ob de lot an' left de wagon box 
a sitting on de ground. 

"Den Harry he washed himself up in de creek 
an' went in de house an' ate his supper all alone 
by hisself. 

"In de ebenin' de Elder he talked to de family 
very serious like 'bout how dey must flee away 
from temptation an' resist de evil one, 'cause de 
great adversary ob souls was all de while trying 
to lead 'em astray an' always going about like 
a roaring lion seeking to devour 'em an' to do 
all sorts ob wickedness an' mischief; dat all de 
bad things dat was done was de work ob Satan 
an' dat if eberybody would go to church reg'lar 
an' gib ob dere substance freely to de Lord an' 
mind what his ministers told 'em, dere wouldn't 
be any sorrer nor suff'ring in de world. 

"Mr. Morris he didn't say much and Harry 
neber said a word, but he kept a thinking what 
de Elder would say if he knew where his wagon 
wheels were an' who put 'em dere. 

"Mrs. Morris, who was one ob de sweetest 



50 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

souls dat eber libed, she said, 'Elder, what a 
blessed man you are an 5 how I love to hear 
you talk.' 

''In de morning Harry he got up early an' 
had his breakfast as soon as de sun was up, 
and went down in de field to work wid his 
father. 

"Bim by de Elder he got up an' ate a nice 
breakfast what Mrs. Morris had got for him. 

"Den he went out to git his boss an' wagon ; 
an' de fust thing he seed was de wagon box a 
sitting on de ground an' de wheels nowhere 
round. 

"De Elder he was so 'mazed dat he couldn't 
speak for a minit, den he turned an' went into 
de house an' said to one ob de girls, 'Tell your 
mama to come right out here quick an' see 
what de debil has done.' 

"So Mrs. Morris an' all de girls dey run out, 
an' dere was de Elder stannin' by de wagon box 
looking fust at de box an' den at de sky an' a 
raising his hands up an' down an' groaning wid 
all his might! 

' Tis de work ob de debil, sure,' said de 
Elder, 'nobody else could habe taken dem 
wheels off and carried dem away where no- 
body can -find 'em an' nobody else would a 
wanted to; de debil had done dis to stop me 
on my way an' keep me from de meeting where 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 51 

I was to be dis night; oh, de wiles ob de ebil 
one am passing all understandinY 

"Den Mrs. Morris she sent one ob de girls 
down to de field to tell Mr. Morris to come 
right up. 

"As Mr. Morris was a coming he walked 
through de back end ob de lot an' he seed de 
wagon wheels hanging in de trees dere ; so 
when he saw de Elder he told him where de 
wheels were, an' de Elder he said 'twas de 
work ob de debil, ob de great adversary ob 
souls ; but Mr. Morris he said nothing, though 
I 'spect he knew who de great adversary was 
dat had hung up de wheels. 

"'When Mr. Morris met Harry he asked him 
what made him do such a wicked thing, an' 
Harry said de Elder told him to put up his 
team, an' he put de harness an' de wheels up 
as high as he could an' he want strong enough 
to hang up de hoss or de wagon box. 

"Dere was a Miss Bliss come dere from Ver- 
mont to teach de colored children, 'cause dere 
want no white folks round there that would 
keep school for niggers. 

"Miss Bliss was as nice as anybody could be 
an' she was dreadful proud of de scholars she 
had, if dey were niggers ; 'cause dey all tried to 
do de best dey could an' wanted to learn an' 
everybody 'mong de colored folks just thought 
she was an angel sent by de Lord. When she 



52 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

went by where colored folks was dey'd all hush 
air looked at her as if dey thought she had 
come right down from heaven. 

"One day Mrs. Morris, she asked Miss Bliss 
an' all de scholars to come to her house for a 
party. So they did an' dey had all de black- 
berries wid sugar on 'em dey could eat an' hot 
biscuit wid honey ; an' de little girls dey played 
ring round a rosey an' sung some songs ; an' 
as I sat dere an' saw all de little girls wid dere 
white frocks an' de little boys wid dere clean 
clothes all so happy an' Mr. and Mrs. Morris 
looking on an' enjoying it all, I thought o'f the 
time when I was a little girl and of my Tom 
and of the great change that had come, and the 
tears were in my eyes, tears of sorrow for the 
past and of joy for what was. 

"One day in de winter dey had exercises at 
de school and de grown folks went to look on. 
Dey sung songs and spoke pieces an' Harry 
he spoke a piece beginning, 'The Boy Stood on 
the Burning Deck,' and he stood up so straight 
and spoke so well that all the grown folks 
clapped their hands an' Mrs. Morris she looked 
so pleased and happy it would have done any- 
body good to have seen her. 

"You see, Harry was the only boy, all the 
rest of the children were girls, and naturally 
her boy was very dear to her. ' 

"Miss Bliss she taught the children to sing. 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 53 

Harry had a fine voice and it would a done you 
good to a heard him an' de rest ob de scholars 
a singing hymns and songs 'bout liberty an' dc 
country an' flowers an' birds an' sich. 

"My ! how fast de time went on. Harry kept 
a growin' an' growin' and got to Be a mighty 
fine looking boy, if he was a nigger. 

"He was so tall and spoke pieces so well 
and such a scholar— one ob de best Miss Bliss 
had — dat some ob de colored folks said he 
ought to be a preacher or go up Norf and be 
a lawyer, an' Mrs. Morris, poor dear, gentle 
soul, I don't know what thots an' dreams she 
didn't have 'bout her Harry. 

"He used to come up and put his arm round 
her, an' she would look up to him, an' he would 
bend down an' kiss her, 'cause he had got to be 
a good deal taller than she was. 

"An' I used to see dem walkin' out in de 
woods an' fields togedder, an' Harry was so 
careful of an' perlite to her an' would help her 
ober de logs an' fences an' de wet places, an' 
pick flowers for her and take care ob her as if 
she was de tenderest and de sweetest thing in 
de world. 

"I 'member one day he come in wid a stone 
dat had on it a queer mark just as if a big 
bug had lain down on it an' left a mark where 
it lay; an' Harry he said dat it was a fossul 
an' was eber an' eber so many years old; dat 



54 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

Miss Bliss had told him all about it. Now, I 
didn't know what a fosstil was an' don't sposc 
Mrs. Morris did, but I could see when Harry 
went on to talk 'bout how de rocks waz made, 
what Miss Biss had told him, dat his mother 
was awful proud of him an' dat Harry liked 
to tell us what he knew, just as folks always 
does. 

"I said some ob de colored folks said Harry 
ought to go away and study more an' more an' 
git lots of larnin' an' be a preacher or some 
sort ob a big man. But Mr. Morris said no ; 
dat Harry was going to stay wid him an' hab 
some land an' raise cotton an' corn an' dat 
by an' by dey would build a bigger house an' 
hab more things an' maybe an organ for de 
girls to play on. 

"Mrs. Morris she didn't say much 'bout it. 
I know she didn't want to hab her boy go away 
from her but she didn't know much 'bout de 
world an' I spose she thot most anything was 
possible for Harry to do an' to be an' would 
hab liked to see him a great man just as any 
mother would. 

"Bime by Harry he quit going to school an' 
gan to work most all ob de time on de place 
wid his father. 

"One day, 'twas a Sunday afternoon in de 
blackberry season, Harry come in where we 
was a sittin' an' said he'd go down to de lot an' 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 55 

git some berries for tea; so he took a pail an' 
went out. 

"Mrs. Morris looked at him as he went away 
an* I saw de tears come in her eyes. I don't 
know what made 'em ; maybe 'twas just 'cause 
she was so fond of him an' happy 'cause she 
had him, folks sometimes cries just for joy 
and happiness— an' maybe 'twas cause she 
feared something might happen to him, just as 
folks who haz eberything is kinder anxious 
'bout some dreadful thing kinder droppin' 
from de clouds an' takin' away all dat dey love, 
an' dat makes dem happy. 

"Somehow ob late dere seems to be a great 
deal more devilment on Sunday dan any odder 
day. Dere's lots of fellers, white an' black, dat 
ain't much good, gits into town an' gits full 
of whisky an' gits to shoutin' an' fighting an' 
racin' an' running about an' ready for a row or 
a 'sturbance ob most any kind. 

"Harry want none ob dat kind; he didn't 
drink an' he didn't 'sociate wid fellers dat dfd 
an' he neber thot he couldn't hab a good time 
'less he was howlin' round an' makin' a' noise; 
but he was a libely cheerful boy an' liked to 
whistle an' to sing an' to run an' jump a fence 
an' climb a tree jest cause he felt well an' 
strong. 

"Well, he went down to de lot some ways 
from de house an' he picked a pail full ob black- 



56 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

berries and started along through de woods 
a comin' home ; an' when he come to de road 
he gib a ittle run an' a shout an' jumped ober 
de fence inter de road, just for fun an' cause he 
felt lively. He didn't see her ; but right dere, 
dere was Mollie Perkins, a nice girl, a vvalkin' 
along all by herself, an' vyhen Harry jumped 
ober de fence dere in de woods it frightened 
her most to death an' she screamed an' ran 
as fast as she could ; and' Harry he stopped an' 
stood still an' didn't know what to do; but she 
kept a running an' screaming an* went ober 
a little hill out ob sight, den Harry he walked 
along toward home. 

"Just as she got ober de hill she met a lot ob 
young white fellers a comin' from town a ridin' 
ob dere hosses. Dey was full ob liquor an' 
ready for anything an' when dey heard her 
screamin' an' saw her runnin' dey rode up an' 
asked what de matter was an' she was so scared 
an' so out ob breath dat she could only say dat 
dere was a nigger had run after her and tried 
to catch her in de woods ; an' dey started as 
fast as dey could make dere horses go, down 
de road after de nigger, an' when dey saw Harry 
dey rushed up an' grabbed him an' put a rope 
round him an' dragged him up to Miss Mollie 
an' asked if he was de nigger an' she said he 
was, an' dey cuffed him an' kicked him an' 
swore at him an' sai^L dey'd string him up, an' 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 57 

Harry said he'd only been pickin' berries an' 
didn't know she waz dere when he jumped ober 
de fence and want after her at all ; an' dey called 
rm a damned lying nigger an' struck him in de 
face an' de blood ran out ob his mouth an' Miss 
Mollie she fainted away an' den dey said he had 
killed her an' put a rope round his neck an' 
waz going to string him up right off, but some 
ob 'em want quite so drunk said no ; dat dey 
knowed him and he was a decent nigger an' dey 
ought to take him to jail an' let him hab a trial, 
an' de odders dey said he had 'saulted de girl 
and maybe killed her an' dey would kill him 
anyway an' dey got to quarrelin' 'mong them- 
selves an' two or three pulled out dere guns 
an' filled Harry full ob bullets ; shot an' killed 
him right dere, wid him all a bleeding from dere 
blows an' a saying he hadn't hurt nobody. 

"When dey saw dat Harry was dead, some 
ob de more sober ones took Miss Mollie home 
and odders went to tell Mr. Morris. 

"When dey come to the house they called 
Mr. Morris out and told him what had hap- 
pened and he went with them, widout saying a 
word to anybody; but 'fore be came back he 
sent for Miss Bliss and had her come to de 
house and tell Mrs. Morris dat Harry was 
dead. So she came and took Mrs. Morris and 
de girls in a room and kept dem dere till they 
brought Harry home an' washed de blood off 



58 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

his face an' took off his clothes an' brushed his 
hair an' wrapped him in a sheet an' put some 
flowers on his breast an' made him and ebery- 
thing look as though he hadn't been mur- 
dered but had just fallen down and died, an' 
dat everybody loved him an' was dreadful sorry. 

"When Mrs. Morris came in she knelt down 
by de bed an' put her arms around her boy an' 
kissed his face an' stroked his head for I don't 
know how long. 

"His hair was short an' kinky, just as colored 
folks' always is, but 'twas as dear to her an' she 
ran her fingers through it as gently and looked 
at it wid her eyes full of tears, an' sobbed as if 
dose black, curly locks were soft and silky as 
does dat grows on de head ob de hansomest 
white boy dat lives. 

"Once I heard some one read : 

'Fleecy locks and black complexion, 
Cannot banish nature's claim, 

Skins may differ but affection 

Dwells in white and black the same.' 
I don't know who wrote that, but I k'LO'W it 
is the truth. 

"Ob course, lots ob people came to the 
house ; all de colored folks for eber so far 
round, an' a good many white folks came, for 
de Morrises were well thought of an' lots of de 
whites said it was a burnin' shame dat 
Harry should have been killed by a lot ob 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 59 

drunken men, an' dat dey didn't believe he had 
done anything at all an' dat de men dat shot 
him ought to be put in prison an' tried for 
murder; but nobody was. 

"Ob course, in a little while Mrs. Morris found 
out how Harry was killed an' what he was 
'cused of; an' I think dat was de cruellest thing 
of all to her; to think that her dear good boy 
who neber armed anybody should be called a 
damned black scoundrel and dat lots of folks 
should say he got what he deserved and dat de 
papers should publish all ober de land dat Har- 
ry Morris had been lynched for 'saulting a white 
woman, an' dat he confessed his guilt, was 
something she could not and did not long bear ; 
for she 'gan to droop an' be very feeble an' in 
about two months she died. 

"But 'fore she died dere was one thing hap- 
pened dat was a great comfort to her, a com- 
fort dat nobody, not even a mother who has had 
her only boy die, wid eberybody loving and 
speaking well ob im, can understand; no one 
'less dey has been in Mrs. Morris' place. 

"Miss Perkins was a nice girl, as I tole ye, 
an' 'fore. Mrs. Morrs died she came to see her 
an' said dat now she was calm an' had hac time 
to think of it she didn't believe Harry eber 
knowed dat she was dere when he jumped 
ober de fence, an' dat she was awfully 
scared an' didn't know in de 'citement 



60 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

just what she did say when dey brot Har- 
ry up an' asked if he was de man, dat she didn't 
want to have him killed an' was dreadful sorry 
for all that had happened, and she asked Mrs. 
Morris to forgive her for what she had done ; 
an' Mrs. Morris said she neber had thought she 
had meant to tell a lie an' had neber blamed. her 
an' that she thanked her more than she could 
tell for coming an' saying what she had. 

♦ ^ sfc * # >l~ * 

"Heavenly Father, why should all this have 
come to me ! why should I have seen all these 
things? 

"I neber was one who ran to every excite- 
ment. I never cared to go to Yale or 'Washing- 
ton or Richmond. 

"I would have been glad to live out my days 
on de old plantation with my Tom, and neber 
have known what was outside the neighborhood 
where he and I were born. 

"Some folks talk about fate and say we is all 
destined to be what we is and to hab what 
happens to us. I believe in God and that I have 
been in his hands, sent where he willed and led 
as he thought best ; but oh"! it has been so hard, 
so hard, to be despised and persecuted all one's 
days for that no one can help, and no one is to 
blame for. 

Mr. Morris did not live long either ; and after 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 61 

he died I felt more lost and lonesome dan I 
had in a long time. 

•'There was a number of colored folks gong 
to Texas, they was building railroads there, 
an' colored folks was wanted to do it, and 
dere was lots of talk 'bout de new country an' 
de new land and some 'citement, just as dere 
always is when folks is doing what's out ob de 
ordinary course ob things ; so I went along 
just 'cause I might as well go dere as stay 
where I was. 

"Things wa'nt so very different in Texas 'cept 
dat dere was lots of work making railroads and 
lots ob colored folks libed 'long de road and 
didn't do nothing 'cept work on it. 

"Now I says dat working in great gangs 
'way from dere faders an' mudders widout any 
wives or children isn't good for colored folks 
any more dan it is for whte. 

"De best colored folks I eber knew libed in 
what dey called dere home, 'twant fine nor big 
but it was deres, or least it seemed so to dem, 
an' dey had a notion ob trying to be 'spectable 
an' fixin' up a Sundays an' enjoying dere homes 
and likin' to be wid dere families and seeing 
dem comfortable an' happy. Somehow, it 
seems as if de boys when dey gets a long time 
to libin' alone wid men and neber seeing any 
families gets to feeling awful smart an' free 
an' to drinkin' an' righting an' maybe stealin' 



62 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

while dey isn't sleepitr or workin.' So dere 
was a good many colored men workin' on dem 
railroads an' eatin' an' sleepin' in dem big 
sheds what was kinder disagreeable when day 
got out an' thot dey was habin' a good time. 

"Ob course, dere was lots ob as nice and 
'spectable colored folks in Texas as dere is any- 
where. I libed in de family of a Mr. Ransom 
what had a big plantation pretty near a small 
town by de name of Youtsey. I was still 
a good cook and able to do a good deal ob work 
an' had no trouble getting a place. Dere 
worked for Mr. Ransom a man whom dey called 
Sam, an' his brudder Joe. Sam had a wife, 
Lizzie, an' de three libed in a little cabin ciose 
by de big house, dat the white folks had. 

"Dey was three steady going colored people 
wid no foolishnees about 'em. 

"Mr. Ransom sold potatoes an' cabbage an' 
hay an' lots ob stuff to de folks workin' on de 
railroad, an' most ebery day Sam or Joe would 
go to town an' down along de road wid a load, 
ob truck for de railroad folks. Sam and Lizzie 
had three children, de oldest a boy 'bout ten. 

"One day Sam an' Joe went off wid a load 
to sell, same as dey was used to. 

"Now dat day dere was a white woman found 
dead in a field wid her head mashed in, an' 
folks said she had been ravished. Od course 
eberybody was mighty stirred up and people 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 63 

'gan to talk 'bout who it was dat did it. Den 
somebody said dat some no aecount niggers 
what worked a buildin' de railroad had been 
round de place where she was found, an' den all 
de white men started out to find 'em. 

"Sam an' Joe had sold most ob dere load to 
de railroad people an' were drivin' home when 
a couple ob colored men came up an' wanted 
to buy one ob de melons day had left. So Sam 
an' Joe let 'em hab a melon an' was a chattin' 
wid dese two fellers when up comes a lot ob 
dese white men, an' some ob dem said dat de 
two colored men what was eatin' de melon had 
been down to de place where de dead woman 
libed dat day, an' dey believed dey was de fel- 
lers what killed her. 

"Den all de white men dey rushed up an' 
seized dem two colored boys an' 'gan to ask 
'em where dey had been dat morning an' to 
'cuse dem ob killing de white woman, an' de 
boys was scared an' tried to talk but didn't get 
mor'n half a chance to tell what they wanted 
to, 'cause there was so many talking an' yell- 
ing an' swearing at 'em all at once. 

"And dey say dey didn't tell a straight story, 
anyway, an' dat what dey said one time wasn't 
'sistent wid what dey said at another, an' maybe 
it wa'nt ; 'twouldn't be very strange if dey didn't 
make eberything plain an' simple when dey was 
talkin' to a mob what was cursin' dem wid all 



64 A CENTURY OP CASTE. 

dere might an' threatening to hang 'em de next 
minit. An' maybe dey had killed de white 
woman an' was lying. I don't Know, nor no- 
body else. 

"Ob course, de folks asked Sam and Joe 
where dey had met dese fellers and how long 
dey had been together an' what dey had been 
doing ; an' de less Sam and Joe said 'bout know- 
ing dem an' habin' been with them de more de 
crowd thot that they was lying and knew all 
about what they had been doing. 

"Den de husband ob the woman what was 
killed came up an' ob course he was half crazy 
an' dreadfully 'cited an' wanted somebody hung 
right off. 

"As nobody could be made to 'fess anything, 
de crowd said let's hang 'em up awhile an' see 
what they'll say then. 

"Somebody got ropes an' dey put dem round 
de necks ob all four an' pulled 'em up an' 
choked 'em for a minit an' then let 'em down 
an' asked dem again where dey had been and 
what dey knew 'bout de killing ob de white 
woman. 

"Sam an' Joe was mighty scared an' out ob 
breath an' de most dey said was dat dey libed 
on Mr. Ransom's place an' asked for somebody 
to go after him. The other two didn't say much ; 
I don't know as they could, dey was a bleedin' 
at de mouth an' I guess dey knew it was all up 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 65 

with them, that the crowd would kill 'em any- 
way. 

"One man went to tell Mr. Ransom, an* 
while he was gone de crowd strung 'em up 
again to see if dey couldn't make 'em say dat 
dey had killed de woman or knew who did an* 
where dey was ; but none ob de four owned 
up or told anything 'bout anybody, only, so de 
white folks say — 'told stories and didn't agree 
an' lied about something anyway/ 

"De man what went for Mr. Ransom he came 
to his place, but Mr. Ransom wasn't there an' 
so he told Sam's wife, Lizzie, 'bout de trouble 
he an' poor Joe was in an' she started fast as 
she could run wid her oldest boy, George, wid 
her to go to where de man said Sam was. But 
'fore dey got dere de crowd had got so 'cited 
dat dey was just crazy. Some white men what 
knew Sam and Joe an' where dey libed tried 
to reason wid 'em, but it didn't do no good, 
dey was so 'furiated when dey seed de woman's 
husband crying an' shouting dat dey was bound 
to hang somebody anyway and dey pulled all 
ob de four up again an' let 'em hang till dey 
was dead. 

"Den de crowd stood 'round swearing an' 
mad 'cause nobody had owned up; an' talking 
'bout odders dey % 'spected had a hand in de 
'buse ob de white woman an' what dey would 



66 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

do to 'em an' what dey would teach de damned 
niggers. 

"When Lizzie and George came a runnin' 
up an' when dey seed Sam an' Joe a hangin' 
dere dey stopped an' couldn't go no furder an' 
'gan to cry an' broke down ob course. 

"Den Lizzie sorter got calm or crazy, I don't 
know which, for 'twas a awful foolish thing to 
do, but she was dreadful fond ob her husband, 
an' she went up to the crowd an' pointed to 
Sam an' said : he was her husband an' asked if 
they wouldn't let her take his body an' carry 
it home to Mr. Ransom's where she lived. 

'The crowd was so crazy that this seemed to 
set 'em all on fire, dey was mad dat anybody 
should care for any ob de damned niggers dey 
had hung, an' 'fore most ob de people knew 
what dey was doing some ob dem put a rope 
round Lizzie's neck an' pulled her up an' 
choked her to death right there, wid her little 
boy a lookin' on an' crying, 'Mammy, mammy, 
mammy'. 

" 'Hung a woman? Oh, no, that cannot be,' 
I exclaimed. 

" 'Hung a woman', she replied, 'I don't won- 
der you don't believe it, but you will find the 
whole story in the Texas papers, an' lots of 
others, if you will look it up,' she said, 'an' 
what if they did, is it any worse to hang a 
woman for something: she knows nothing of 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 67 

than to kill a man for what he hasn't done?' 

"Oh ! my God ! my God ! why was I born to 
be despised and robbed ? Why should all I had, 
all I had, my husband, have been sold away 
from me ? How long, how long, Oh Lord ! 
must we be a despised race, because thou hast 
made us black? My years are many, my days 
are weary ! always thus, always thus, they have 
been. 

"God has helped me through it all, blessed 
be His name ! I have never lost faith in Him. 
He has held me up when all else failed, and He 
will take me to my own, my own, in His good 
time." 

NOTE. 

The Statute of South Carolina, enacted in 
1834, contained among other provisions as to 
colored people, the following: 

"Section 1. If any person shall hereafter 
teach any slave to read or write, or shall aid 
or assist in teaching any slave to read or write, 
or cause or procure any slave to be taught to 
read or write, such person, if a free white per- 
son, upon conviction thereof shall, for each 
and every offense against this act, be fined not 
exceeding $100 and imprisonment not more 
than six months ; or, if a free person of color, 
shall be whipped not exceeding fifty lashes, and 
fined not exceeding $50, at the discretion of 



68 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

the court of magistrates and freeholders before 
which such free person of color is tried ; and 
if a slave, to be whipped, at the discretion of 
the court, not exceeding fifty lashes, the in- 
former to be entitled to one-half the fine and 
to be a competent witness. If any free person 
of color or slave shall keep any school or other 
place of instruction for teaching any slave or 
free person of color to read or write, such free 
person of color or slave shall be liable to the 
same fine, imprisonment and corporal punish- 
ment as by this act are imposed and inflicted 
on free persons of color and slaves for teaching 
slaves to write." 

Section 2 prohibited the employment of col- 
ored persons "As clerks or salesmen in or about 
any shop, store, or house used for trading." 

The Statutes of Virginia enacted in 183 1 were 
in part as follows : 

"Section 4. And be it enacted, That all meet- 
ings of free negroes or mulattoes at any school- 
house, church, meeting-house, or other place, 
for teaching them reading or writing, either in 
the day or night, under whatsoever pretext, 
shall be deemed and considered an unlawful 
assembly ; and any justice of the county or cor- 
poration wherein such assemblage shall be, 
either from his own knowedge, or on the in- 
formation of others of such unlawful assemb- 
lage or meeting, shall issue his warrant directed 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 69 

to any sworn officer or officers, authorizing him 
or them to enter the house or houses Chore 
uch unlawful assemblage or meeting may be 
or the -purpose of apprehending or dispersing 
such free negroes or mulattoes, and to inflict 
corporal punishment on the offender or offend- 
ers, at the discretion of any justice of the 
peace, not exceeding 20 lashes 

"Section 5. And be it enacted, That if any 
person or persons assemble with free negroes 
or mulattoes at any school-house, church, meet- 
.ng-bouse, or other place, for the purpose of in- 
structing such free negroes or mulattoes to read 
or wnte such person or persons shall, on con- 
viction thereof, be fined in a sum not exceed- 
ing $00 fine, and, moreover, may be imprisoned 

months et ' 0n ° f ' JUry ' " 0t 6XCeedi "S f wo 
"Section 6. And be it enacted, That if any 
white person, for pay or compensation, shall 
assemble with any slaves for the purpose o 
teachmg, and shall teach any slave to read 
or wnte, such person, or any white person or 
persons contracting with such teacher so to 
act, who shall offend as aforesaid, shall for each 
offense, be fined, at the discretion of a jury in 
a sum not less than $ I0 , nor exceeding $100 
to be recovered on an information or indict- 
ment. 

The law of North Carolina provided that no 



70 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

descendant from negro ancestors to the fourth 
generation inclusive should enjoy the benefit of 
the public schools. 

J/^The law of Mississippi enacted in 1823 for- 
bade the meeting together of slaves, free ne- 
groes or mulattoes to the number of more than 
five, at any house for teaching, reading or writ- 
ing. A statute enacted in 183 1 forbade the 
preaching of the gospel by any slave, free ne- 
gro or mulatto and prescribed as a punishment 
therefor thirty-nine lashes upon the bare back ; 
but permitted a negro, with the written per- 
mission of his master, to preach to negroes in 
his immediate neighborhood provided six re- 
spectable white persons, owners of slaves, were 
present. 

•i The law of Missouri enacted in 1847 forbade 
any person to keep or teach any school for the 
instruction of negroes or mulattoes in reading 
or writing. 

^ In 1830 there was enacted in Louisiana a 
statute forbidding free negroes entering the 
state land also that whoever should "write, 
print, publish, or distribute anything having 
a tendency to produce discontent among the 
free colored population, or insubordination 
among the slaves, 'should on conviction thereof 
be imprisoned 'at hard labor for life, or suffer 
death, at the discretion of the court.' 
4 And whoever used language calculated to 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 71 

produce discontent among the free or slave 
population, or was "instrumental in bringing 
into the State any paper, book or pamphlet 
having such tendency," was to "suffer imprison- 
ment at hard labor, not less than three years 
nor more than twenty-one years, or death, at 
the discretion of the court." And that "all per- 
sons, who should teach, or permit or cause to 
be taught, any slave to read or write should 
be imprisoned not less than one month nor more 
than twelve months." 

^ In Georgia, in 1829, the following was en- 
acted : 

^ "If any slave, negro, or free person of color, 
or any white person, shall teach any other slave, 
negro or free person of color to read or write 
either written or printed characters, the said 
free person of color or slave shall be punished 
by fine and whipping, or fine or whipping, at the 
discretion of the court; and if a white person 
so offend, he, she, or they shall be punished 
with a fine not exceeding $500, and imprison- 
ment in the common jail at the discretion of 
the court." 

^J In Savannah, the chief city of that State, it 
was in 1833 by ordinance provided, "that if 
any person shall teach or cause to be taught 
any slave or free person of color to read or 
write within the city, or who shall keep a school 
for that purpose, he or she shall be fined in a 



72 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

sum not exceeding $100, for each and every 
such offense ; and if the offender be a slave or 
free person of color, he or she may also be 
whipped, not exceeding thirty-nine lashes." 
. i. In Connecticut under a Statute created 
May 24, 1833, Miss Prudence Crandall was in 
1834 convicted and sent to prison for the of- 
fence of keeping a school for the education of 
colored girls. 

•o 2. In Alabama it was enacted in 1832 that 
"Any person or persons who shall attempt to 
teach any free person of color or slave to spell, 
read or write, shall, on conviction thereof under 
indictment be fined not less than $250, nor 
more than $500." 

\In Illinois, the State of ABRAHAM LIN- 
COLN, for many years prior thereto and at the 
beginning of the Civil War the following, 
known as the "Black Code," was the law of the 
State respecting people of color: 
^ No black or mulatto person or Indian shall 
be permitted to give evidence in favor or against 
any white person whatsoever. Every person 
who shall have one-fourth part or more of ne- 
gro blood shall be deemed a mulatto ; and every 
person who shall have one-half Indian blood 
shall be deemed an Indian. 

A negro, mulatto or Indian shatl not be a 
witness in any court, or in any case against a 
white person. A person having one-fourth part 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 73 

negro blood shall be adjudged a mulatto, 
^yfc? If any person shall harbor or secrete 
any negro, mulatto or person of color, 
the same being a slave or servant, ow- 
ing service or labor to any other per- 
sons, whether they reside in this State, or 
any other State or territory, or district within 
the limits and under the jurisdiction of the 
United States, or shall in anywise hinder or 
prevent the lawful owner or owners of such 
slaves or servants, from retaking them in a law- 
ful manner, every such person so offending, 
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemenor, and 
fined, not exceeding five hundred dollars, or 
imprisoned, not exceeding six months. 

No black or mulatto person, shall be per- 
mitted to reside in this State, until such person 
shall produce to the county commissioner's 
court where he or she is desirous of settling, 
a certificate of his or her freedom ; which cer- 
tificate shall be duly authenticated in the same 
manner that is required to be done, in cases 
arising under the acts and judicial proceedings 
of other States. And until such person shall 
have given bond, with sufficient security, 
to the people of this State, for the use of the 
proper county, in the penal sum of one thousand 
dollars, conditioned that such person will not, 
at any time, become a charge to said county, 
or any other county of this State, as a poor 



V 



74 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

person, and that such person shall, at all times 
demean himself or herself, in strict conformity 
with the laws of this State, that now are or 
hereafter may be enacted ; the solvency of said 
security shall be approved by said clerk. The 
clerk shall file said bond, and if said bond shall 
in any condition thereof be broken, the whole 
penalty shall become forfeited, and the clerk, 
on being informed thereof, shall cause the said 
bond to be prosecuted to so produce and in- 
dorse a certificate on the original certificate, 
stating the time the said bond was approved 
and filed ; and the name and description of the 
person producing same ; after which it shall 
be lawful for such free negro or mulatto to re- 
side in this State. 

Sec. 2. If any person shall harbor such ne- 
gro or mulatto as aforesaid, not having such 
certificate, and given bond, and taken a cer- 
tificate thereof, or shall hire, or in any wise give 
sustenance to such negro or mulatto, not hav- 
ing such certificate of freedom, and of having 
given bond, shall be fined in the sum of five 
hundred dollars, one-half thereof to the use of 
the county, and the other half to the party 
giving information thereof: Provided, This sec- 
tion shall not affect any negro or mulatto who 
is now a resident of this State. 

Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of all free ne- 
groes and mulattoes who shall have come to 



#* 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 75 

reside in this State, having a family of his or 
her own, and having a certificate as mentioned 
in the first section of this chapter, to give to the 
clerk of the county commissioners' court, at the 
time of making an entry of his certificate, a de- 
scription with the names and ages of his, her, or 
their family, which shall be stated by the clerk 
in the entry made by him of such certificate ; 
and the clerk shall also state the same on the 
original certificate: Provided, however, That 
nothing contained in this or the preceding sec- 
tion of this chapter, shall be construed to pre- 
vent the overseers of the poor in any township 
from causing any such free negro or mulatto to 
be removed, who shall come into this State con- 
trary to the provisions of the laws concerning 
the poor. 

Sec. 4. Every black or mulatto person 
(slaves or persons held to service excepted) re- 
siding in this State, shall enter his or her name 
(unless they have heretofore entered the same), 
together with the name or names of his or her 
family, with the clerk of the county commission- 
ers' court of the county in which they reside, to- 
gether with the evidence of his or her freedom ; 
which shall be entered on record by the said 
clerk, together with a description of all such 
persons ; and thereafter the clerk's certificate of 
such record shall be sufficient evidence of his 
or her freedom : Provided, That nothing in 



76 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

this chapter contained, shall be construed to 
bar the lawful claim of any person or persons to 
any such negro or mulatto. 

Sec. 5. Every black or mulatto person who 
shall be found in this State, and not having 
such a certificate as is required by this chap- 
ter, shall be deemed a runaway slave or serv- 
ant, and it shall be lawful for any inhabitant of 
this State, to take any such black or mulatt 
person before some justice of the peace, and 
should such black or mulatto person not pro- 
duce such certificate as aforesaid, it shall be 
the duty of such justice to cause such black 
or mulatto person to be committed to the cus- 
tody of the sheriff of the county, who shall 
keep such black or mulatto person, and in three 
days after receiving him, shall advertise him, 
at the court house door, and shall transmit a 
notice, and cause the same to be advertised for 
six weeks in some public newspaper printed 
nearest to the place of apprehending such black- 
person or mulatto, stating a description of the 
most remarkable features of the supposed run- 
away, and if such person so committed shall 
not produce a certificate or other evidence of 
his freedom, within the time aforesaid, it shall 
be the duty of the sheriff to hire him out for the 
best price he can get, after having given five 
days' previous notice thereof, from month to 
month for the space of one year ; and if no owner 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 77 

shall appear and substantiate his e^aim before 
the expiration of a year, the sheriff shall give a 
certificate to such black or mulatto person, who 
on producing the same at the next circuit court 
of the county, may obtain a certificate from the 
court stating the facts, and the person shall.be 
deemed a free person, unless he shall be law- 
fully claimed by his proper owner or owners 
therafter. And as a reward of the taking up 
of such negro, there shall "be paid by the owner, 
if any, before he shall receive him from the 
sheriff, ten dollars, and the owner shall pay to 
the sheriff for the justice two dollars, and rea- 
sonable costs for taking such runaway, to the 
sheriff, and also pay the sheriff all fees for keep- 
ing such runaway as other prisoners ; Provided, 
however, that the proper owner, if any there 
be, be entitled to the hire of any such runaway 
from the sheriff, after deducting the expenses of 
the same; and provided also that the taker up 
shall have a right to claim any reward which the 
owner shall have offered for the apprehension 
of such runaway ; should any taker up claim 
any such reward, he shall not be entitled to the 
allowance made by this section. 

Sec. 6. If any negro or mulatto, being the 
property of a citizen of the United States, re- 
siding without this State shall hereafter come 
into this State for the purpose of hiring him- 
self or herself to labor in this State, and shall 



78 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

afterwards institute or procure to be instituted 
any suit or proceedings for the purpose of pro- 
curing his or her freedom, it shall be the duty 
of the court before which the suit or proceed- 
ing shall be instituted or pending on being 
satisfied that such negro or mulatto had come 
into this State for the purpose aforesaid, to dis- 
miss such suit or proceeding, and cause the 
same to be certified to the sheriff of the county, 
who shall immediately take possession of such 
negro or mulatto, whose duty shall be to confine 
such negro or mulatto in the jail of his county, 
and notify the owner of such slave of the com- 
mittment aforesaid, and that said owner make 
immediate application for such slave ; and it 
shall be the duty Of the sheriff on such applica- 
tion being made, after all reasonable costs and 
charges being paid, to deliver to said owner 
such negro or mulatto slave. 

Sec. 7. Every servant, upon the expiration 
of his or her time, and proof thereof made be- 
fore the circuit court of the county where he 
or she last served, shall have his or her, freedom 
recorded, and a certificate thereof, under the 
hand of the clerk, which shall be sufficient to 
indemnify any person for entertaining or hir- 
ing such person ; and if such certificate should 
happen to be torn or lost, the clerk upon re- 
quest shall issue another, reciting therein the 
loss of the former. 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. T9 

Sec. 8. Any person who shall hereafter 
bring into this State any black or mulatto per- 
son, in order to free him or her from slavery, 
or 'shall directly or indirectly bring into this 
State, or aid or assist any person in bringing 
any such black or mulatto person, to settle 
and reside therein, shall be fined one hundred 
dollars, on conviction on indictment, or before 
any justice of the peace in the county where 
such offense shall be committed. 

Sec. 9. If any slave or servant shall be 
found at a distance of ten miles from the tene- 
ment of his or her master, or the person with 
whom he or she lives, without a pass or some 
letter or token whereby it may appear that he 
or she is proceeding by authority from his or 
her master, employer or overseer, it shall and 
may be lawful for any person to apprehend and 
carry him or her before a justice of the peace, 
to be by his order punished with stripes not ex- 
ceeding thirty-five at his discretion. 

Sec. 10. If any slave shall presume to come 
and be upon the plantation or at the dwelling 
of any person whatsoever, without leave from 
his or her owner, not being sent upon lawful 
business, it shall be lawful for the owner of 
such plantation, or dwelling house, to give or 
order such slave or servant ten lashes on his 
or her bare back. 

Sec. 11. Riots, routs, unlawful assemblies, 



80 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

trespasses and seditious speeches, by any slave 
or slaves, servant, or servants, shall be punished 
with stripes, at the discretion of a justice of the 
peace, not exceeding thirty-nine, and he t who 
will may apprehend and carry him, her or them 
before such justice. 

Sec. 12. If any person or persons shall per- 
mit or suffer any slave or slaves, servant or 
servants of color, to the number of 
three or more, to assemble in his, her 
or their out-house, yard, or shed for the 
purpose of dancing or revelling, either by night 
or by day, the person or persons so offending 
shall forfeit and pay the sum of twenty dollars 
with costs to any person or persons who will 
sue for and recover the same by action of debt 
or by indictment in any court of record proper 
to try the same. 

Sec. 13. It shall be the duty of all foreigners, 
sheriffs and justices of the peace, who shall see 
or know of, or be informed of any such as- 
semblage of slaves or servants, immediately to 
commit such slaves or servants to the jail or 
county, and on view or proof thereof, order each 
and every such slave or servant to be whipped 
not exceeding thirty-nine stripes, on his or her 
bare back, on the day next succeeding such 
assemblage, unless it shall happen on a Sun- 
day, then on the Monday following; which said 
stripes shall be inflicted by any constable of 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 81 

the township, if there should be one therein, 
or otherwise, by any person or persons whom 
the said justice shall appoint, and who shall be 
willing so to inflict the same : Provided, how- 
ever, That the provisions hereof shall not apply 
to any persons of color who may assemble for 
the purpose of amusement, by permission of 
their masters, first had in writing, on condition 
that no disorderly conduct is made of by them 
in such assemblage. 

Sec. 14. In all cases of penal laws, where 
free persons are punishable by fine, servants 
shall be punished by whipping, after the rate 
of twenty lashes for every eight dollars, so that 
no servant shall receive more than forty lashes 
at any one time unless such offender can pro- 
cure some person to pay the fine. 

Sec. 15. No person shall buy, sell, or re- 
ceive off, to or from any servant or slave, any 
coin or commodity, without leave or consent 
of the master or owner of such slave or servant, 
and any person so offending shall forfeit and 
pay to the master or owner of such slave or 
servant four times the value of the thing so 
bought, sold or received, to be recovered with 
costs of suit, before any court having cognizance 
of the same. 

Sec. 16. Any such servant being lazy, 
disorderly, guilty of misbehavior to his' 
master or master's family, shall be cor- 
rected by stripes, on order from a ius- 



82 A CENTURY OP CASTE. 

tice of the county wherein he resides; or 
refusing to work, shall be compelled thereto 
in like manner, and moreover shall serve two 
days for every one he shall have so refused 
to serve, or shall otherwise have lost, without 
sufficient justification. All necessary expenses 
incurred by any master for apprehending and 
bringing home any absconding servant, shall 
be repaid by further services, after such rates 
as the circuit court of the county shall direct, 
unless such servant shall give security, to be 
approved by the court, for the payment in 
money within six months after he shall be free 
from service, and shall accordingly pay the 
same. 

Sec. 17. All contracts between masters and 
servants, during the time of service, shall be 
void. 

Sec. 18. The benefit of any contract of serv- 
ice shall be assignable by the master to any 
person being a citizen of this State, to whom 
the servant shall, in the presence of a justice of 
the peace, freely consent that it shall be as- 
signed the said justice attesting such free 
consent in writing; and shall also pass to the 
executors, administrators and legatees of the 
master. 

Sec. 19. No negro, mulatto or Indian, shall 
at any time purchase any servant, other than of 
his own complexion ; and if any of the persons 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 



S3 



aforesaid shall nevertheless, presume to pur- 
chase a white servant such servant shall im- 
mediately, and shall be so held, deemed and 
taken. 

Sec. 20. Servants shall be provided by the 
master with wholesome and sufficient food, 
clothing and lodging, and at the end of their 
service, if they shall not have contracted for 
any reward, food, clothing and lodging, shall 
receive from him one new and complete suit 
of clothing, suited to the season of the year, 
to wit : A coat, waiscoat, pair of breeches and 
shoes, two pair of stockings, two shirts, a hat 
and blanket. . 

Sec. 21. If any servant shall at any time 
bring in goods or money during the term of 
their service, shall by gift or other lawful means, 
acquire goods or money, they shall have the 
property and benefit thereof to their own use : 
and if any servant shall be sick or lame, and so 
become useless or chargeable, his or her master 
or owner, shall maintain such servant until his 
or her time of service shall be expired ; and if 
any master or owner shall put away any lame 
or sick servant, under pretense of freedom, 
and such servant becomes chargeable to the 
county, such master or owner, shall forfeit and 
pay thirty dollars to the overseers of the poor 
of the county wherein such offense shall be com- 
mitted, to the use of the poor of the county re- 



84 A CENTURY OF CASTE. 

coverable with costs, by action of debt, in any 
circuit court; and moreover, shall be liable to 
the action of the said overseers of the poor at 
the common law for damages. 

Sec. 22. The circuit court of every county 
shall at all times, receive the complaints of 
servants, being citizens of any of the United 
States of America, who reside within the juris- 
diction of such court, against their masters 
or mistresses, alleging underserved or immod- 
erate correction, insufficient allowances of food, 
raiment or lodging or any failure in the duties 
of such master or mistress as prescribed in this 
chapter, and the said circuit court shall hear 
and determine complaints of masters and mis- 
presses against their servants, for desertion 
without good cause, and may oblige the latter 
for loss thereby occasioned, to make restitu- 
tion by further services after the expiration 
of the time for which they had been bound. 

Sec. 23. Any black, colored or mulatto man 
and white woman, and any white man and 
black, colored or mulatto woman, who shall 
live together in an open state of adultery or 
fornication, or adultery and fornication, shall 
be indicted, and on conviction, severally fined, 
in any sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, 
and confined in the penitentiary for a term not 
exceeding one year. For the second offense, 
the punishment shall be double ; for the third, 



A CENTURY OF CASTE. 85 

trebled, and in the same ratio for each suc- 
ceeding offense. 

Generous provision was made for the ed- 
ucation of white children, the entire school 
law discriminating against the colored child by 
the continually repeated expression "white." 

In 1862, more than a year after the firing on 
Fort Sumter, when nearly a million of men 
were in arms for the preservation of the Union, 
the question of incorporating the infamous 
"Black Code" of Illinois into the constitution 
of that State, and thus preventing its repeal by 
legislative action was presented to the voters 
of the State, with the result that there was 
given a majority of about one hundred seventy- 
five thousand in favor of perpetuating forever 
these iniquitious laws. 

In 1865, after the close of the war, pub- 
lic sentiment had so changed that they were re- 
pealed with little opposition. 

Until the close of the Civil War the <T Black 
Code" of Indiana was quite similar to that of 
Illinois. 



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